Jet City pomp-metallers Queensryche left their denim-jacketed fanbase hanging for close to two decades following the release of 1988's OPERATION: MINDCRIME, a sociopolitical concept album, and the subsequent chart success of its 1990 follow-up, EMPIRE. Frontman Geoff Tate (credited here as "Leader") returns to finish the tale as if the 1990s never happened, offering up a brace of unadulterated '80s metal that, miraculously, sounds in step with where the band left off and at the same time, given early-2000s nostalgia trends, seems ahead of the curve.